Handmade shoes at home? Finnishing my sneakers!

I bought a pair of sneaker soles already a year ago. I had all that fine folk wool fabric I had spent months weaving and I wanted to use the scraps to make something fun and different – so sneakers! How hard could it be to make a pair? I had seen people make sneakers in Great British Sewing Bee and it didn’t look difficult.

About the materials and patterns

I bought my sneaker soles from magic4kids on Etsy which specialises in making patterns for crocheted footwear. These soles have both the rubber outer sole and the soft inner sole, so you only need to add the fabric parts. I found a free pattern for the sneakers from SneakerEU which also sells soles and whole kits to make sneakers at home. The soles and the kits are more expensive at SneakerEU but then, you might save some trouble as the perforated holes might be more evenly positioned. However, those cheaper soles worked just fine for me.

The fabric I wove is wool and cotton. I added cotton canvas layer for the lining. As I cut the wool in bias, I added extra support by quilting the wool and the lining fabric together along the white stripes. I then made linen bias tape out of the folk vest lining scaps and used it to bind the edges of the sneaker pieces.

As the pattern wasn’t made for my sneaker soles exactly, I made a few mock-ups. I adjusted the toebox that was a bit too narrow and did some fine-tuning. This didn’t take that much time as I only sewed the pieces on with a quick running stitch. Using some strong yarn and a thick needle, one can even fashion mock-laces.

How I made my sneakers

Here is my video on how I made my folksy sneakers:

The finished sneakers

I finished the sneakers with golden eyelets and black laces.

The stripes at the back are making his upside-down V-shape that reminds me of a similar V-shape on my folk vest.

I’m super happy how these Finnished (pun intended!) sneakers came out! They look super cool and the folksy fabric suits them perfectly. They are also very comfortable. The only thing is: They are so fine that I’m afraid to ruin them! So, I’m afraid these are for special occasion sneakers only.

Thank you for reading (and watching) and see you soon! Please subscribe to the blog and my YouTube channel! See you soon and happy sewing!

Katja